ABBOTSFORD, B.C. - Police in Abbotsford, B.C., have seized $250,000 in American cash and a loaded nine-millimetre handgun from a minivan carrying two Mexicans and a pair of Canadians near a U.S. border crossing.

Const. Ian MacDonald says an officer observed the vehicle travelling at least 40 kilometres below the speed limit at about 7 p.m. Friday along the Canada-U.S. border in the Sumas Prairie area.

He says the officer also noticed at least two of the men wearing camouflaged clothing.

MacDonald says the Canadians — a couple in their 50s from Burnaby — have been released as the investigation continues.

The Mexican men, who are in their 30s, have been detained for immigration purposes.

Along with the vacuum-packed U.S. currency, MacDonald says police also seized up to $4,000 in Canadian cash.

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Crazy Drug Smuggling Schemes From Around The World

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Earlier this year, Colombia police captured a carrier pigeon trying to fly into a Bucarmanga jail with marijuana and cocaine paste strapped to its back. Carrying a package with 40 grams of marijuana and 5 grams of a paste containing cocaine, the bird -- which police believe had been trained by inmates or accomplices -- appeared to be unable to successfully clear the prison walls.

In 2009, Spanish police arrested a man arriving at Barcelona's airport from Chile after determining that the cast on his fractured left leg was made of cocaine, CNN reported. The 66-year-old man had an actual fracture of two bones below the knee, but the police suspect that he, or accomplices, may have intentionally fractured it, so that the cocaine cast could be applied.

Perhaps they should call it a case of "Merry-Juana." A German man faced drug possession charges after local police discovered a six-foot-tall marijuana plant in his home that had been decorated with twinkling Christmas lights in late 2010.

In 2006, CNN reported that a two-year investigation into a Colombian heroin ring netted more than 65 pounds of drugs, resulted in the arrests of more than 20 people and saved the lives of some drug-smuggling Labrador retrievers. Ten wayward pups were found during a raid on a Colombian farm in 2005, and six of them were carrying more than 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) of liquid heroin in their stomachs.

In 2009, the Mexican navy smelled something fishy the southeastern port of Progreso, and their intuition paid off. When the inspectors zeroed in on a shipment of sharks, they found black bags containing rectangular packets filled with cocaine inside the frozen fish.

In 2006, a 25-year-old Australian woman was charged with attempting to smuggle heroin into the country a week after she was found to be carrying 329 drug-filled condoms in her stomach. The woman was intercepted on suspicion she was carrying drugs internally by customs officers at Sydney airport as she came off a flight from Singapore.

In 2008, former England cricket player Chris Lewis was charged with attempting to smuggle cocaine with a street value of more than 200,000 pounds into Britain. The 40-year-old was arrested along with an alleged accomplice on Dec. 8, 2008 after border control officers at London's Gatwick airport found four kilograms (nine pounds) of the illegal drug in liquid form in fruit tins in a baggage that had arrived from the Caribbean island of St Lucia.

In 2006, Texas police reportedly found about 168 grams of cocaine inside a can of Pringles. The cocaine was ingeniously made to look like the actual Pringles crisps.

In 1993, drug enforcement agents at Miami's airport reportedly seized nearly 36 kilograms of cocaine wrapped in condoms and stuffed in Boa constrictors. The snakes had been imported from South America, and were still alive when they were found. There were over 312 snakes about 1.5 meters in length. The cocaine was actually found by mistake when one of the snakes appeared to have an abnormal bulge.